


Photo Booth

by destroya_ah_ah



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Fluff, Kissing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-02
Updated: 2013-01-02
Packaged: 2017-11-23 09:12:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/620484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/destroya_ah_ah/pseuds/destroya_ah_ah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gerard stood at the photo-booth nervously, one foot in, one foot out. He leaned his back against its doorframe and watched the busy passers by, feeling invisible, like his pale face blended in with the white of the booth. A hand escaped the pocket of his zipped up leather jacket to run backwards through his jet-black hair, but it soon got hidden away again. He was looking for Frank among the bustling shoppers – Frank who was his best friend, Frank who had agreed to meet him there, Frank who was helping him with his art project.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Photo Booth

 

Gerard stood at the photo-booth nervously, one foot in, one foot out. He leaned his back against its doorframe and watched the busy passers by, feeling invisible, like his pale face blended in with the white of the booth. A hand escaped the pocket of his zipped up leather jacket to run backwards through his jet-black hair, but it soon got hidden away again. He was looking for Frank among the bustling shoppers – Frank who was his best friend, Frank who had agreed to meet him there, Frank who was helping him with his art project.

 

Frank walked hurriedly through what seemed like an ocean of people. Some of them shoved past him with elbows and shoulders and bags, pushing him back like he was swimming against a current. He shoved his hands deeper into the pockets of his jeans with a huff and battled on, not wanting Gerard to think he’d been forgotten. Gerard had been far from forgotten. Finally, the photo-booth was in sight and Frank’s pace quickened as he saw Gerard’s shoulder poking out from it and one of his boots through a gap in the shoppers. It was obvious that Gerard had been waiting for quite a while; he was staring off somewhere above the shoppers, lost in his thoughts, eyes wide. _Probably something arty_ , Frank thought.

 

Feeling a poke at his elbow, Gerard snapped back to the present with a jump and a sharp intake of breath.

“Jeez, Frankie.” He chuckled with relief that it was Frank and not someone telling him to stop creeping.

“Dressed for the occasion then?” Frank raised an eyebrow and the corners of his pierced mouth.

“Uh, what?” Gerard looked down at himself, hands still in his jacket pockets, wearing nothing but black.

“Well I thought this project was about colour, for once.”

“Hey, you can talk!” Gerard laughed, obviously noting that Frank had also failed to find anything to wear that wasn’t black. He felt more confident now that Frank was with him – he always had. “And anyway, yeah, the project is about colour…but that doesn’t mean I can’t focus on the lack of it.” Frank rolled his eyes.

“Aw, but I wore red eyeshadow especially.” He whined, feigning a childish sulk. Gerard was surprised that he hadn’t noticed the red on Frank’s top and bottom lids, fading out from the edges of his eyes. Frank waited and watched as Gerard got swept away by thought again, unblinking.

“Maybe red could be a focus too.” He smiled, conclusion clearing his face of a frown. Grinning, Frank brought a hand out of his pocket, holding onto the eyeshadow he’d used. Gerard took it gladly and put a hand on Frank’s shoulder to usher him into the tight space inside the booth, drawing the curtain at the same time.

 

Frank sat on the spinny stool to get out of Gerard’s space as he used the tiny mirror next to the digital screen. He successfully copied Frank’s eyeshadow, using his fingers instead of the applicator. Turning back to Frank, he found that he’d been spinning childishly and made the seat taller. Frank’s feet were no longer touching the floor and they both giggled, forgetting about the shoppers outside.

 

Getting started, Gerard fed three dollars into the machine and bit his nails as he messed with the controls, wanting to get as many photos for his money as possible but still with all the right settings. He sat down underneath the screen to get out of the way and told Frank to get the seat to the right height, simply watching Frank’s movements.

“Aren’t you gonna be in these?” Frank sat again, frowning down at Gerard and swinging his legs a little.

“Yeah but I want mainly separate photos, I think.” It made sense in Gerard’s head – the inexplicable artistic instinct taking over his ideas as it often did. “Ok, so, uh… Just look sort of confused and a bit angry for the first one.” He didn’t really understand how to explain his ideas to other people but Frank became the exact image he’d created in his mind. Frank had a habit of doing that, like he could somehow see what Gerard was thinking. Gerard sometimes wondered if Frank was even real – the way he could just _become_ what he’d envisioned made Gerard think he must also be a product of his imagination. Telling Frank to stay like that, head leaning forward a little with his eyebrows drawn together, Gerard reached up for the button and the machine counted three beeps before the shutter clicked.

 

Standing to inspect the displayed picture, Gerard was happy with all the settings and sat back down again.

“What now?” Frank asked eagerly, bouncing on the seat.

“Do something stupid.” Gerard told him, laughing when Frank hit the button straight away and grinned so wide that his eyes were almost closed and his neck was all tense.

 

“I don’t follow.” Frank said after the shutter had clicked.

“Contrast.” Gerard stated, pausing to gather his ideas. “These show contrast through black and white, right?” Frank nodded, refraining from adding ‘ _and red_ ’ to make sure his contribution hadn’t been forgotten. “So, there should be contrast with expression too. Think of it like a split personality. So, the red could be a constant, showing that we’re viewing the same person in different phases of their insanity.”

 

Understanding, Frank hit the button again and broke out in a silent scream. _Perfect_ , Gerard thought, staying where he was, staring up at Frank as he continued to press for another photo and change his expression. Being understood was all Gerard had ever wanted, especially through his art, and no one really had before Frank.

“Is it your turn yet?” Frank asked, sticking his tongue out at the camera on his tenth photo. “I’ve run out of faces.” Gerard chuckled at the idea of Frank with interchangeable faces, reminding him of all the times Frank had dressed up as Frankenstein’s Monster for his own Halloween Birthday and one of Gerard’s previous projects.

“Ok, but I think I want some of them to be both of us. You’ve used half the photos already.” He hadn’t really thought of any other expressions to use for himself. Swapping with Frank, Gerard adjusted the seat and sat down.

 

After much thought, he gave up.

“I can only think of expressions for both of us now.” He sighed, rolling his eyes. “Come here, you’re gonna have to sit on me.” Frank stood from his space below the screen and hopped onto Gerard’s lap with a giggle.

“What first?” Frank asked, feeling Gerard’s arms move around his middle.

“Vampires.” Gerard hissed, giving an evil grin.

“Typical.” Frank giggled again, reaching for the button and letting Gerard grip tightly onto his shoulders and pretend to be about to bite his neck.

 

Another eight photos – and a considerable amount of shuffling about on Gerard’s lap – later, Frank was pressing the button for the last time. Gerard had run out of ideas and he began to panic a little. Frank had thought of something though. Taking Gerard by surprise, Frank turned to him, put a hand either side of his face and smashed a kiss to his lips. The shutter clicked after what seemed like an eternity for the both of them and Gerard almost fell off the seat. Frank let go, shrinking away and pulling his hoodie sleeves over his hands nervously.

“…Shit, Frankie.” Gerard could hardly speak. The photos clunked out in strips of five into the little dispenser under the screen.

“S-sorry, Gee.” Frank tried to stand up – the only thing he wanted to do was get out of there and save himself the embarrassment of having to explain – but Gerard stopped him, his arms still around Frank. “I didn’t know what else to do, I’m sorry.” Frank babbled. “I– no, wait. Ugh, sorry... I kinda like you, Gerard.” He wouldn’t look at Gerard. He only looked down at his fingers which were pulling at his hoodie sleeves from the inside, hiding away just like he wanted to.

 

Frank’s face was hot as he waited for some sort of response from the best friend that he’d just kissed. He felt like the red from his eyeshadow had spread all across his face.

“Um, I, uh…” Gerard knew it was true but he’d never admitted it to himself when Frank obviously had. “Don’t apologise, Frankie. I– I like you too.”

 

Finally, Frank looked up to see Gerard smiling. He reached over for the small stack of photos, looking at the last one and showing it to Gerard. Frank stood, all smiles, and his mind remembered the world that still existed outside of the photo-booth.

“We’d better get going, I guess.” Frank said but Gerard turned to him and closed the gap between them. Frank’s shoulders lightly touched the wall of the booth. Gerard leaned further and kissed Frank again, slowly but surely, setting it in his mind that this was what felt right. He broke away with a smile.

“Okay, let’s go.” He chuckled, leading Frank out by the hand for all the world to see.


End file.
